The story from one Richmond mom and pediatrician, Dr. Gayle Smith, as told to Kate W. Hall
You may have seen the article we ran last summer about the announcement of the merger between VCU Medical Center and the current Children’s Hospital; this was Kate Hall’s view, without the medical knowledge/background. The rest of this article is Gayle Smith, MD’s view.
There have been many attempts at partnering on a Children’s Hospital for Richmond, but the culture of the pediatric medical community, affectionately referred to as Town and Gown, have precluded collaboration.
Once again, there is philanthropic commitment with a deadline of Valentine’s Day to commit to building this hospital. Once again, the culture of various hospital administrations in Richmond, it will likely fail to find enough common ground to actually build a hospital.
Gayle Smith, MD, a fierce proponent of a stand-alone Children's Hospital in Richmond
I just wonder if the pressure to do what’s right for children might come from the community this time?
Transparency has its value, and the foolishness of the negotiations and the men who can’t figure out a way to build and run a hospital may be one way to move the mountain.
I guarantee if you handed all the numbers and the need and 250 million dollars to the mothers in the carpool line…told them that everyone else has a children’s hospital…there would be none of the foolishness.
They’d know where to build it, who would run it, who would make what financial sacrifices in the short and the long run…and we’d have a hospital for our children.
Tell us, Richmond, what do you think? How can we help make Gayle’s vision a reality?
